Arena Mobile Experiments

Hello OF team,

In the same direction as Bryant, I would like to contribute that our experience with both APPs is similar, the official one is a good tool but the experimental version is more intuitive and agile, in fact for our field work we are using the experimental version of Arena Mobile.

Good job to the entire team!

Oscar

Dear Arena Mobile colleagues, I just checked on the updated versions of these two apps; I noticed that you have implemented the multiple lines in both, which is great. I captured test data without trouble in both. In the past I had some issues with image collection when using Arena Mobile (not Arena Experiment), but this time both worked perfectly. My main problem with Arena Mobile is something I have already mentioned regarding the 'bottom' box of the screen. It is not really useful to me, and it occupies a disproportionate part of the screen. So basically, I minimize it always. But even if I minimize it in the root, later when I enter lower level entries, it goes back to extended, and so I have to minimize it again, which is a significant loss of time.

Dear Open Foris Team,

My team similarly found that the AM app became slow when inputting larger volumes of data. I don't remember exactly how many trees (but imagine as we neared 100 trees in a plot), or neared the end of the 30 vegetation quadrats surveyed (each with multiple entities in tables. We used both an Android and Apple device. At first I thought it was the device needing to be updated, but this problem completely cleared up when I found the AM Experiments app.

My team immediately found the Experiments app to be more intuitive and have better data visualization while inputting information into the app, so we continued to use this for the remainder of our field season. My team used two devices simultaneously to gather data at each plot, so I was very excited to see there is now an option in the latest version of Experiments to merge the data from both devices into a single record. This feature has greatly enhanced my workflow and organization of our data.

Thank you for continuing to enhance and experiment with features that make these apps more useful for our work!

Dear users,
You should not have any performance issues with the latest version of Arena Mobile 1.0.60.198 (198) or later.
If you encounter these kind of issues while editing a large number of entities in a multiple entity (table), you should check the expressions defined in every attribute (default values, validation rules, etc.), because, depending on the way they are defined, they could be evaluated by Arena and Arena Mobile too many times when you create a new entity or delete an existing one.
Please follow the following rules:
- when you have a default value with an expression that depends on the "index" of the entity, like index($context) + 1, mark it with "Default value evaluated only one time", otherwise the expression will be evaluated again and again every time you insert a new entity;
- when you have a validation rule that checks the value of an attribute, please prefer the use of "this" instead of the name of the variable; e.g. this > 10 instead of attribute_name > 10 or parent_entity_name.attribute_name > 10;

Reguarding the merge feature server side, we are still working on it and it should be ready in September 2024.

If you still find issues on Arena Mobile, please open a new thread about that and keep this one only to talk about differences between Arena Mobile and Arena Mobile Experiments, especially about features you would like to see in the official app.

Many thanks,
Open Foris Team

Dear OF team

I ran into similar problems to some of the users above.

I have designed a relatively large survey in OF Arena Mobile (AM) for a plantation experiment. The design is relatively simple, but the sampling point data is quite large (~50,000 trees).

The survey worked quite well in OF Arena, but I ran into serious problems when I tested it on several Android devices. AM just keeps crashing when I try to start it. On Apple devices, however, the survey runs smoothly and as expected.

After a series of tests I came to the following conclusions:

1. Android devices suffer from performance issues We have had this problem in previous field surveys with OF Collect. The problem still seems to persist in AM. Even after calculating default values only once and limiting validations to a minimum. Not surprisingly, this performance loss also depends on the age and model of the Android device, but it is still noticeable on any Android device.

2. AM on Android devices cannot handle large sampling point data It is possible to install a survey on an Android device, but AM may then crash the device and the survey cannot be loaded. AM will only work if all app data is deleted or the app is reinstalled.

3. Looking at the questions above, I then tried Arena Mobile Experiments (AME)
   The full survey didn't work on Android devices either, but when I reduced the sampling point data to eight columns, the survey worked, while this survey still didn't work in AM.

4. I haven't experienced any performance issues on Apple devices It is worth noting that the Samsung Galaxy Tab Active Pro and the iPad 10.9 are both from 2022.

5. In my opinion, the AME UI is much clearer and more intuitive, and I had the impression that the workflow is smoother and the application runs faster and more stable than AM (regardless of the device).

Finally, a big thank you to the OF team for their work on this great toolbox and their support.
Christoph

Dear users,
Many thanks for using and enjoying our tools.
Arena Mobile Experiments was meant to be just a prototype to play wiht new features and using it to collect data in the field is not suggested.
However, if you find there some features that are essential for you work and you would like to see them in the official app, please let us know.
Also, referring to what Bryant was saying, can you please be more specific? When you say that the experimental app is a bit faster, are you talking about something in particular? Or is it just a generic perception? Can you please provide some evidence in case you find some performance issues, sharing with us some videos and details about the device you are using?
Many thanks,
Open Foris Team

Dear Bryant,
What device are you using?
I've tried to run your survey in both AM and Arena Mobile Experiments, using one of your records (400+ entities in a single record) and as I could't see any significative difference in creating new entities. What dropdown menus are you talking about? Is the slowness coming after some time that the user is working on the same record? What happens if you try to close the app and continue to work again on the same record? Is it still slow?
Anyway, if you want to try the same survey with the same records in Arena Mobile Experiments, just import your survey, fetch the list of records in the remote server in the records list, download one of your already inserted records and try to update it in AME.
Also, as I could see in your survey, there are some read-only attributes where the expression is calculated again and again every time the user inserts a new entity; for example, in the attribute id_within_row, after Default values you can enable the option "Default value evaluated only one time", because the expression would be evaluated (for every tree) every time the user inserts a new "tree" entity but the result of the expression won't change, and it's useless to re-calculate it again and again.
Let us know, many thanks.
Open Foris Team

Dear open-foris team, we are facing similar problem:

"our field crew has reported that the app becomes very slow (and continuously slower) when inputting tree data (other plot data seem to be fine)."

and

"I'm afraid I don't have much more information. They just notice that the app becomes slower while they are working. It is by far most notable (and interfering with the workflow, bordering unusable) when they record tree data. They are using some regular tablet with Android."

Dear Christoph,
The problem you are reporting is not related to the amount of data inserted into a single record (which has been fixed already in latest version of Arena Mobile, 1.0.60.198 (198) or later).
Your problem is related to the size of the sampling point data; we are already conscious of this problem, that occurs with old Android devices, and we will solve it as soon as possible.
Glad to know that you can work with a reduced version of your survey (at least in Arena Mobile Experiments) and you can provide your feedback on the of that app.
Please use this thread/question to talk about features in Arena Mobile Experiments that are missing in the official app and you would like to see there, for example:

• support for multi-cycle surveys (show values from previous cycle data);
• clone records from previous cycle to current cycle;
• download specific records from server;
• records merging directly from the mobile app;
• export/upload only selected records;
• import records from Arena .zip files;
• text/numeric attributes: filling without opening dialog;
• coordinate attribute:
  • get location with a single "click";
  • compass to navigate to an "expected" location;
  • find closest sampling point;
• image attribute: automatic resize of images according to file size limit specified in survey designer;
• data fill in "single node" mode (filling one attribute per time);
• GPS locking: GPS can be locked at all times when activated to allow using GPS with the best accuracy possible at key moments instead of potentially waiting minutes for the GPS to lock;
• simpler bottom navigation bar;
• confirm dialogs with "slider" to confirm;
• option to switch to full screen;
• option to keep the screen always on;

Also, when you say that the experimental app is "much clearer and more intuitive", are you talking about something specific?
Please let us know, it would be good to include in the official app features that make your work in the field easier and smoother.
Many thanks,
Open Foris Team